Airfloa Rail Technology Ltd. traces its journey from a niche HVAC-focused startup to a listed engineering player delivering turnkey railway solutions, precision components, and full train builds. Post-IPO, the company is scaling capacity, strengthening working capital, and diversifying into aerospace, defence, and renewables to drive long-term growth.
Karunya Rao: Hello and welcome to SmallCap Spotlight. I’m Karunya and today we’ll put the spotlight on a company called Airfloa Rail Technology Limited. It’s an Indian engineering company that is focused on manufacturing components and turnkey interiors for railway rolling stock. With increasing exposure to aerospace and defense sectors as well. So how the company is growing. What’s been happening in terms of diversification plans? How has life changed for them? Post the listing. Let’s find out all that and more. Joining us today is the Joint Managing Director of the company, Mr. D Manikandan from Airflow Rail Technology, to chat with us and tell us the way forward. Mr. Manikandan, thank you so much for joining us. Welcome on board.
D. Manikandan: Thank you so much. Uh uh uh, I’m Manikandan joined the managing director of Airflow Rail Technology Limited. Uh, thank you so much for inviting me for this podcast.
Karunya Rao: Thank you so much. Glad to have you here with us. And I’ll dive right in. Uh, the company was formed almost three decades ago. Um, and it’s now a listed player as well. So if you could first up take us through the journey of the company so far, what have been the key milestones that have really shaped your growth story in the railways and precision engineering space?
D. Manikandan: Well, Airflow uh, Equipment’s India Private Limited, uh, was started in nineteen ninety eight. Uh, by Mr. Venkatesh, founder director, my elder brother basically uh, uh, predominantly to concentrate on the, the, uh, HVAC system. That’s why the name airflow, uh, uh, came in basically. And, uh, after two years of this journey, uh, I joined this, uh, company, uh, as a design engineer in two thousand and one after I completed my mechanical engineering.
And, uh, we Thought that there should be some value addition into this business particularly. So, uh, I started, uh, concentrating on the railway market, uh, even though it was initiated by my elder brother. Um, uh, we have seen a lot of attractions in the, in the rail business. Uh, as in, like, there’s a lot of technology, uh, vantage, uh, in this particular area, that’s what we understood. So those days, it was all a mild steel, uh, rail coaches, uh, which has got a life of around fifteen to twenty years.
So, uh, we started, uh, developing a lightweight aluminium components, uh, for railways. So the introduction of lightweight aluminium components started in the year two thousand, uh, two thousand and one through airflow. So that has got a that has given us a great mileage, uh, in terms of reverse engineering, as in, like they were using a component, uh, which was, uh, a legacy components for, uh, you know, fifteen, twenty years, which have been changed to an aluminium lightweight, uh, components with the powder coating technology, so that the aesthetics and also the weight of the products, uh, have drastically changed.
And, uh, you know, it has given a good outlook to the coaches. So we have introduced these particular, uh, components through a project called, uh, janshatabdi. So we started our journey through Janshatabdi, and then we did a lot of, uh, reverse engineering. And that has created a lot of tractions and, uh, breakthrough for the for for our company. So, um, we started doing our own engineering, uh, after two thousand and three for, uh, uh, financial year.
And then that has, uh, been considered as the breakthrough of the development of, uh, airflow equipments, uh, into a self driven or a self engineered, uh, product manufacturers, Basically
Karunya Rao: So wonderful. But, you know, you’ve talked about the pivot that you’ve made back in in the two thousand. Now railways, metros, these are, you know, government linked projects typically. And they come with their own complexities, challenges, etc. in your journey and your association with the company. What have been the most difficult challenges you have faced so far? Be it operational, be it regulatory or even financial? And if you could tell us about how you overcome overcame those challenges.
D. Manikandan: Oh, that’s uh, we have a very long and, uh, you know, very frequent, uh, histories, basically, which we have encountered in the last twenty five years, basically, which was very much interesting and then challenging. And of course, we we, we came out of all these challenges, uh, and then now we are IPO listed company basically. So, uh, when we talk about the challenges during the, uh, during the, uh, two early, uh, uh, two thousand. Uh. Six, seven.
Uh, you know, we got a major contract, uh, from Indian Railways, uh, through a project called Mumbai Operations. And then, uh, uh, you know, after, uh, twenty ten, uh, there was change in the government, uh, and then, uh, we suddenly, uh, was to concentrate on, uh, on, uh, uh, Kolkata projects than Mumbai projects, basically. So, uh, we for the first time, the Kolkata metro was, uh, developed, air conditioned.
Uh, Kolkata metro coaches was developed by, by Indian Railways and through a, through a turnkey contracts. So that was the first turnkey contract given to any a private company. And we got the, the major contract of that basically so that we have uh, we have uh, done it in almost six months, which was uh. A record break in the in the Indian railway industry, uh, by any uh, private ah company basically. So that was basically, um, sleepless nights, uh, because of the challenges from the, from the, you know, uh, high authorities and then the political scenarios we are forced to do, uh, the entire train interiors in six months, which was really a challenging things.
Parallelly, uh, after this particular project, uh, there was not much, uh, major project because of the unstability in the government side, uh, which has created a lot of thing, but that has given us a very good lesson that we should not focus on only one particular segment. So of railway. So what we did was, um, we have started, uh, concentrating on the exteriors. So we were predominantly interior suppliers till twenty ten, uh, twelve or something like that.
So this particular challenges has given us a, you know, the exposure to concentrate on the exteriors. That is a trained building itself. So from twenty fourteen onwards, we started concentrating, building the entire train rather than to concentrate on a suppliers. So that is basically a great disruption I would say. And we took it in a very positive way. So that is the major challenge.
And the second major challenge which we have done is basically a record breaking, uh, train eighteen uh, project. Uh, the entire project, uh, was, was uh, done in the in almost one year time, which was really a record breaking project. Uh, nowhere in the entire world, uh, this particular, uh, this type of projects have been completed in one year. So that was, again, a night, uh, you know, the challenging period for us because in, in, um, uh, three years between Twenty seventeen to twenty twenty, we did almost ten major breakthrough projects, which was now considered as the the the Platform of Indian Railways.
Karunya Rao: Okay, that’s that’s very exciting. But, uh, you know, you also do turnkey and you, you do, you know, components, rolling stock components, etc.. So, uh, across the whole chain, whether it’s stock components, rail interiors, precision manufacturing or even turnkey. Where do you believe the company has a clear competitive advantage? And what are the segments where it’s getting more intense? The competition.
D. Manikandan: We are majorly concentrating on the turnkey as such. Uh, because when you when you see the vendor base, uh, you know, it’s it’s a wide vendor base. So when it when it comes to the competition, every product has got a competition and we have a tenders we have a reverse auctions and things like that. So when we talk about the the turnkey, there are very few companies who have got this knowledge know how to do turnkey because when it comes to the turnkey, it’s a it’s a bigger game.
It’s a, it’s a different ball game altogether where you have, um, a standard competitors and the, um, compatible competitors, who’s who, who knows the industry in and out basically. So the, the competition narrows down there. But at the same time, we have a very good constructive challenges which we need to face. Of course, we love to face these particular challenges because we we we use a lot of new technology product. And we get to we, we get to, um, understand the product, what the competitors also uses.
So this is basically an advantage to a company and also an industry because the competition is very strong and also very constructive. So I would say that, uh, turnkey would would bring the company as a as a as a as a follower up to a next level basically where you can, you can be, uh, a coach builder, maybe after, let’s say, uh, three to five years. So the know how and the knowledge is very much intense in this, uh, turnkey contract. So we would always bet for, uh, turnkey contracts. Of course. Uh, we we are not going out of the component suppliers.
We, we keep doing this particular business because that is a bread and butter for us. So at the same time, we would majorly focusing on turnkey contracts in future. And the competition that you’re saying the one that’s intensifying again, that’s in the turnkey space or any particular sub segments of the ecosystem, say in, in, in any of the business, uh, competition is inevitable. You will get to see a lot of competitors, but that the, the, the advantage in this particular competition is basically we are in the initial stage of technology development, so we keep developing the technologies over a period of ten to twenty years in railways.
So, um, uh, competition, as I said, like it’s inevitable. But at the same time, you have a competitor who are technically sound. So, uh, I would say, uh, we are more comfortable being in the competitive business of turnkey because the projects is mounting and we have our share of business, uh, for the next, uh, ten to twenty years. So this particular competition is not going to affect our growth. Okay.
Karunya Rao: Okay. That’s that’s, uh, heartening to know, I’m sure, even for your investors. But, um, you know, you recently went public. Talk to us about the core objective that you had behind this IPO. How are you deploying the proceeds that you’ve raised? Um, across capacity expansion, working capital balance sheet strengthening. What what is the focus there with that funds that you’ve raised? What are you doing with that post listing?
D. Manikandan: Yeah. The the core uh, the reason why we have gone for an IPO is basically for a total expansion today. Indian railway business is, uh, growing up, uh, in multi folds and it is going to go for the next thirty years. Um, in terms of, uh, uh, platform, uh, or a train platform or a, or a semi high speed train set platform or a suburban train platform, metro platform and the high speed train platform. So we are um, having uh, a business of, uh, next thirty years, which we can see today.
So we are in the very, very, uh, initial stage of the growth of the railway business. So what our management thought was to expand ourselves in terms of horizontal expansion and also a vertical expansion. So how this can happen as a MSM company, uh, we are competent of taking the contracts. We are technically sound to take to execute the contract, but at the same time, this working capital plays a vital role when it comes to an expansion.
Because the business today wherein, um, uh, you know, in terms of, uh, you know, one hundred to two hundred crores are going to uh, uh, scale up to one thousand, two thousand crores in next two years. So then if that is the case, when you want to really scale up, then you need to have a total ecosystem to, uh, get this company grow. So that’s the main reason why we have gone for an IPO. That is the major reason for it. So when it comes to IPO, we have raised approximately ninety to ninety, ninety one crores. Uh, in this initial IPO, um, where in which around fifty uh, plus crores are majorly used for, uh, working capital.
And then around, uh, fifteen percent uh, is being used uh, is being allocated for uh, CapEx. And then uh, another uh, around ten percent uh, has been allotted for uh, reducing our previous loans, which is having the better the higher interest basically. So these are the major, uh, breakup of it. And, uh, um, uh, now we are getting a good orders, uh, and we are now, uh, expanding ourself, uh, both in terms of expansion of the, the, the, uh, the, uh, plant and missionaries and things like that, and also increasing our turnovers. So in future we will definitely wanting more money.
And we are planning to get this particular, uh, money, uh, through, uh, through, uh, our accruals and also through debt and equity.
Karunya Rao: Okay. But tell me something. What has essentially changed, uh, post listing on ground with respect to the company, uh, it could be consumer confidence, customer confidence, funding, access, governance, execution, discipline. How how would you define life after listing for airflow?
D. Manikandan: Well, as you correctly said, uh, first of all, our customers plays a vital role in our business. Basically, first thing is to first thing for any entrepreneur is to give confidence to the customer. As you know, we are capable of doing it, uh, the bigger projects because, uh, right now we are participating in a tenders more than one thousand, one thousand five hundred crores. So to execute the contracts, uh, a customer will always assess or do the due diligence about a company, whether this company is capable enough to execute these huge contracts. Basically, then only customers can consider us basically.
So that confidence definitely, uh, this IPO is given to them for sure. And we are seeing it on ground, uh, right now. And we are talking to all the customers very confidently. And now we are executing this contract and we are also getting the bigger contracts. So first is the customer confidence for sure. At the same time, when it comes to the vendors like vendors, is also now very much confident of uh, going for uh, the, the credit facilities and bankers are now, uh, we are dealing with the bankers now we are approaching bankers for uh, for our extended, ah, facilities, uh, in terms of loans, in terms of term loans, in terms of, uh, BG, uh, bank guarantees and things like that, which they are giving very, very big, uh, confidence, uh, to us basically.
So that is really given us a good ecosystem. As I as I said earlier. So this particular ecosystem will definitely make our uh company uh to X and R are three x in the next two years and then five x in the next five years basically. So what we are doing right now. So this is this is how we envisage, uh, the advantage of uh, IPO here. And also there’s lot of, uh, investor calls and things like that’s happening. Uh, that has really, uh, giving us a boost to concentrate more on the business, to give a confidence on our investors also, uh, thereby, uh, you know, uh, we can we can, uh, really do well with our top line and bottom line.
Karunya Rao: Okay. We’ll we’ll also come to that. But first, I wanted to Bring back the apex point, which you were talking about, that from the funds raised, you’ve kept about fifteen percent for CapEx. So over the next couple of years, what kind of CapEx or expansion plans have you lined up? And if you could tell us whether the focus will continue to be on rail manufacturing, or given that you’ve now also started expanding in aerospace and defense, will the funds go more towards expanding those businesses?
D. Manikandan: Yeah. So the CapEx of approximately thirteen to fourteen crores, which we have envisaged right now, uh, is predominantly to concentrate on a machineries, high end machineries, uh, to which will concentrate on both railway business and also a defence business, because we are majorly concentrating on the high precision machining components for the aerospace and defence. And also, uh, the same machineries can be used for a special products, uh, which is, which is being manufactured or which is being concentrated in railways now. So we have strategically made decisions in terms of selection of machines.
And then we are deploying these particular machines for the phase one, which is which is going to be utilised in the next three to six month timeline basically. And after that now we have um, got a land of around fourteen acres, uh, to start with, to construct, uh, approximately, uh, two lakh to four lakh, uh, square feet of uh, covered building, uh, covered sheds, basically predominantly to unite major utilities units together, basically because, um, we wanted to have a separate unit for each and every segment, as in for metros, separate unit is required.
And then the Indian Railways, we have we need to have a separate unit and then the aerospace and defense. So when it comes to the aerospace and defense, they have uh have, they need to follow a different standards. So what we are right now doing is basically we have units in various segments with various areas, which is a bit difficult for you to integrate a certain time. Uh, and we also spending some extra, um, you know, funds for transportation and things like that. We are now trying to centralize everything in one particular place so that the, the, the, the entire business can be monitored in one particular place.
And then we can, um, save at least three to four percent of our overall spending. So that way, uh, this, this infrastructure is, uh, is going to help us. And secondly, when it comes to the overall, uh, investment, uh, in the future, and that will be majorly for, uh, for the defence and aerospace because, uh, um, we are signing in with, uh, various partners and, uh, various, uh, customers for a huge projects, which is a next generation warfare systems basically. So for that, we require a lot of, uh, you know, CapEx for, for investing and development, things like that. So our major spendings would be for the defense, uh, in the future because of the technology, because defense technologies are high end technologies, uh, to to acquiring the technologies and also to develop, uh, various new technology for the defense and aerospace.
Um, so we would be raising, uh, not not in this particular year, maybe in the next, next financial year, we’ll be raising funds for, uh, majorly for the defense and aerospace. Apart from the funds, what we have, what we have received right now, could you also talk to us about why, uh, you know, the foray into, uh, the aerospace and defense precision components? Because that is structurally different from railways business. So if you could talk to us about what drove this move, how important this these segments are going to be for your overall revenue mix going forward? You’re looking at a very ambitious growth.
Like you said, you know, three x growth in the next few years.
Karunya Rao: How are you achieving that and how will the mix change as you grow into these spaces as well?
D. Manikandan: Yes. Uh, this particular initiation started, uh, during Covid, basically because Covid uh, has taught us many lessons basically. So um, in as I said earlier, in twenty twelve, we were concentrating only on the interiors components, uh, component suppliers basically. So when there was, uh, not much, uh, initiation from the top, uh, management, then, uh, as in the industry, uh, top management. So there will be a stagnation where we don’t know what to do, uh, how to do and things like that.
So that’s why we have gone for constructing the entire coach basically. So when it comes to the entire coach, it’s a bigger business, and the entire turnkey, uh, gives us a competitive edge in terms of supplies of various components clubbed together and then supply as one particular kit, basically. So in twenty nineteen, we were very strong, uh, because from twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen, you have seen, um, you know, we have seen, uh, almost five times, ten times growth or even twenty times growth.
I would say it’s approximately twenty times growth in the last in the five years between twenty fourteen and twenty nineteen, uh, because of this strategical decisions, basically same way twenty nineteen, when we were flying high with a lot of projects and new ambitions and things like that. Covid hit. And then we got uh, very big hit in, in, in twenty nineteen. So then we thought, okay, um, you know, uh, railways is one area of, uh, concentration overall. Now we are doing a lot of, uh, technology development in railways.
But at the same time we also wanted to do the the same thing in, uh, major areas of concentration, which is having the, the, the, the, the futuristic, uh, growth of at least, uh, twenty to thirty years. So thereby we selected uh, uh, two areas. One is the one is the, uh, the defense and aerospace, and the other one is the renewable energy area. So when we when we talk about, uh, airflow today, uh, we are predominantly concentrating on three major sectors. One is the, the railways and the other one is the, uh, aerospace and defense. And third one is the renewable energy. So what is there in the common is basically we are basically an engineering company. Any engineering company apart from the segment. Right? We have our core competency to do any engineering basically.
So railways and the defence are almost on the same platform in terms of the business. Business? Uh. Platform, basically. Uh, the reason is that railway is again, a government driven, uh, sector. As of now, defence is also a government sector. Uh, as of now, majorly. And the process what we follow in the railways, we are going to follow the same process as far as the defence is concerned. Again, when it comes to the renewable energy, most of the renewable energy contracts are from the government again through the tenders basically. So we don’t find any differences or difficulties in, uh, shifting or migrating or value adding into the defence and aerospace and renewable sector.
The reason being is that we are going to use the same manpower, same design unit, same, uh, machineries, men and machineries, same infrastructure for both. The segment, um, simple example is that we recently got the contract of manufacturing the main battle tank hull. So which is the body of the main battle tanks basically are artillery tanks with the same infrastructure capacity, capability. And uh, the defense, uh, officials visited our facility and they clearly fit, uh, our infrastructure clearly fits to their requirement. And then they selected us and we got the contract now.
So defense is basically a combination of, uh, the mechanics, electronics, instrumentation. Again, Railways is also a combination of mechanical electronics, instrumentation and electronics. So we are not shifting our focus. Only thing is that we are going to value add in the defense. Because defense is basically a new segment and we are not participating or competing with the legacy defense business. We are now concentrating on the next generation warfare business, basically where most of the companies, even a, flourished. Companies, are in the initial stage of development and we are also now participating. The advantage what we are having is basically we are we are not a lab or lab design company.
We are already having an infrastructure, which we are, which is which is already there, and we have proved it in various areas, and we are just expanding our business through another vertical wherein which the the once the a proven product is to be scaled up, we can use the same facility. What we are having for railways. So now that’s the reason we are doing a separate infrastructure within the campus for the defence and aerospace. That’s why we require more funds, are more deployment of funds for the CapEx.
Karunya Rao: And how big do you see these segments growing in terms of your revenue mix going forward. Where where are they right now and where do you see them go from here?
D. Manikandan: Uh, this year we are having around fifteen percent of our revenue from the aerospace and defense, and next year we are envisaging not less than thirty percent. And, uh, twenty, twenty six, twenty seven, twenty eight. In fact, uh, if things goes well, even twenty six, twenty seven would be, uh, fifty fifty revenue, uh, sharing business. Uh, and twenty seven twenty eight would be more a defense and aerospace, uh, dominant business with the exponential increase of railway business. Because railway business, we are we are having a very good orders for this year and next year. Totally. We are already, uh, you know, uh, blocked our, uh, next year calendar.
Karunya Rao: Can you tell us what the order book is like?
D. Manikandan: Well, right now, uh, the the. I cannot tell you the exact number. Um, but I can say it’s approximately the order books right now. What we are having is approximately around five hundred plus crores. Uh, and we are expecting another, uh, uh, you know, six, seven hundred, seven hundred crores, uh, of business, basically in next fiscal. Yes, yes. This year, this year will be getting us so and we are also, uh, getting some orders, uh, in terms of, uh, renewable energy, which, which is, which is a new segment which we are now concentrating along with, uh, uh, aerospace and defense, uh, railways, aerospace and defense, basically that is having a very good traction. One thing is very sure that, uh, when we are having when we are not having, um, a required, uh, pat margin, we will never enter into this particular any of this contract in this particular three segment.
Karunya Rao: Okay. You know, we’re also curious to understand how large is the team, how critical is skilled manpower and execution capability when it comes to maintaining quality certifications, delivery timelines, etc.? So how are you placed in terms of that?
D. Manikandan: Our biggest advantage is basically, uh, our workforce, uh, because it’s a it’s a very, uh, strongly engineered project products basically. And uh, when you see, uh, the growth of the railways, uh, the technology is now drastically, uh, changing in a very positive way. So to adapt this particular technology levels, we require a very good, uh, human resource, uh, with a lot of technology inputs. So we are our our advantage in this particular business is that we are majorly concentrating on our own workforce rather than a contract are labors are predominantly to concentrate on the quality part.
Basically, uh, of course we have a contract labor segments, uh, for the semi-skilled and, uh, you know, unskilled, uh, areas. Uh, but when it comes to the skill level, obviously we require, uh, a good, uh, strong technology, technical minds, which we are having right now. And we are expanding, uh, right now because we are after IPO, um, we are recruiting the industry experts from various segments, uh, to concentrate on it.
Uh, and we we are also, uh, getting in, uh, uh, our independent directors from, uh, from defense and aerospace segment and also from the renewable energy railway segments, basically. So, um, we are now converting our, uh, company as a fully technology driven company for which human resource plays a vital role. So we are getting in all technology minds irrespective of their, uh, their numbers and things like that, to, to get in, uh, into the, into the uh, platform and to, uh, increase the technology revenue of the company.
The next, uh, two to three years, basically. So, uh, for your questions, yes, we are having currently we are having more than three hundred plus, uh, employees, uh, with us who are on the payrolls. Apart from this, around one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty, uh, people are there as a subcontractors, basically. And this is going to grow up. The reason being is that we have multiple orders right now. We were we were, uh, doing single shift before.
Now we are, uh, increasing it to two shift. And, uh, in future we’ll be having a three shift, basically. So we. Okay. We are, we are, we are increasing our, uh, manpower resources. uh, and also, uh, the infrastructures, uh, in the next, uh, uh, one years of time, basically.
Karunya Rao: And who are the key leaders? If you could tell us a bit about the leaders within your organization who are driving, you know, multiple verticals and businesses for you who will be driving the next phase of growth, hopefully, as well. And more importantly, um, how do you ensure alignment and accountability as the company will scale up now post the IPO?
D. Manikandan: Well, um, as, as the, as as I already highlighted about the, the history, basically it was a family, uh, driven company for last, ah, twenty five years. So, um, we actually wanted to become a professional company. That’s the reason why we have gone for an IPO, uh, in terms of, uh, revenue generation and also to to totally become a technology company and one hundred percent, uh, uh system basically. So what we are now doing is basically we are forming a strong platform, uh, down under, basically, uh, from the key industrial experts. So when you when you see our, uh, board, you can see Mr., uh, and Mr. Sudhanshu Mani, who is basically a familiar names in the railway industry.
Uh, again, uh, we have, uh, now, uh, inducted, uh, colonels and also, uh, uh, lieutenant colonels, uh, lieutenant colonel, uh, for our, uh, aerospace and defense, uh, segment. And when it comes to the renewable energy, we have got the export from the renewable energy segment that is basically forms a top player platform. And below them we have, uh, now already we have, uh, Recruited are lot. Many are engineers, uh, from the various segments, basically, uh, for both the railways and defense, uh, you know, which is now a clear structure, which is now, uh, been, uh, arrived in a system, uh, thereby we will be more concentrating on a strategy of, uh, getting this business to the, the next level. And they will be this particular platform will be concentrating on a, on a day to day, uh, regular, uh, operations basically.
So when it comes to the, the, the strength, what we are having is basically we are, uh, we are having the next generation since it is a, uh, you know, family driven company. We have a next generation people who have joined our company after after completing their studies in UK and the US. Now joining as uh, one is the executive director, Mr. Satish Kumar, who is the who is the son of R founder director, Mr. Venkatesh and he is already an executor Executive director concentrating on the projects basically.
And we have one Mr. Saravana Kumar who is my ah ah ah, my brother in law, who is, who is right now in Canada joining ah in the month of April, uh, for, for, for project management. Ah to concentrating on, to concentrate on the global projects basically. So he is basically, uh, be honest uh, in the, in NSW and then uh, doing the project management are key roles in, in Canada right now. So he is now coming back to India to, to to care to take care of the, the, the project management, uh, segment. And we have the engineering head, we who recently joined.
Ah, um, Mr. Suresh Mohan. Um. He’s not. He’s he. He resigned from Washington. He joined us, uh, very recently, uh, to concentrating on to concentrate on the engineering segment. So, uh, the, the idea is basically to involve the expert, uh, industrial experts to, to concentrate on the various segments, thereby to strengthen our platform stronger. Basically, that’s the idea. And we will be more concentrating on the strategies and bringing in business and expansions and things like that. So that is what we are doing now.
Karunya Rao: Okay. Great. You know, before we let you go, just one, you know, quick question about the growth projection as well. If you have to look in the next five to seven years, give us the long term vision that you have for airflow or rail technology, whether it’s in terms of revenue scale, production capabilities and sectoral diversification. How do you see the company growing and shaping up over the next five to seven years.
D. Manikandan: Let me come to the numbers later. But the major focus of airflow technology right now is to develop two technology product every year. That’s the goal I have set to my team, that in the next five years, we need to have at least ten technology product into the system. Basically, uh, whether whether we have uh, in, in, um, um, railways or in the defense or in the renewable energy, for example. Railways. Railways, we have already, um, highlighted in many of, uh, the interviews about the, the product which we are now concentrating in future, basically.
So in the defence, we have many products, uh, in the, in the line of, uh, you know, uh, development basically, and in terms of renewable energy, now we are talking about the flexible solar panels and, um, this, uh, energy storage systems and, um, that is a nanotechnology, uh, energy systems. These are all the things which is not there in the, in the country right now. So we are now concentrating on that. The idea is basically, technically we need to develop two products every year in each segment. That’s the that’s the goal. The the reason why we are now concentrating on this particular segment is basic processes.
Basically, we want to convert or we want to upgrade ourselves as a tech company, a railway tech company, defense tech company, and also renewable energy tech company. So the moment you you get in more technology, it itself will take care of the revenue generation basically as a product. So the bottom line is to develop two new products every year in every segment. Basically, that is the goal for the next five years, and also in terms of numbers, when we multiply all this particular development, the numbers would be to become at least a five thousand crore to a billion dollar company in the next five years. That’s the idea.
And we have a very clear roadmap for this in terms of numbers for each and every particular segment. And I’m very sure that five years would be enough to reach this particular target.
Karunya Rao: Okay. Well, uh, that’s a very, uh, ambitious and a very exciting target that you’ve set for yourself. And I’m sure, uh, the investors and all the stakeholders will also be very, very keen to see how that plays out. All the best to you, Mr. Manikandan. And thank you so much once again for joining us on SmallCap spotlight. Thank you so much for giving us your time.
D. Manikandan: Thank you so much for inviting me.